This dissertation project investigated fluctuations in estradiol and testosterone across the human menstrual cycle. During the part of the cycle when women are most fertile, women show stronger preferences for men with more masculine faces, and these preference changes may be related to changes in hormone levels during ovulation. The present study investigated preferences changes among women for higher testosterone men over the menstrual cycle as estradiol and testosterone in those women fluctuated. 32 women participated in this 5-week long study tracking their estradiol and testosterone levels and preferences for masculine men. Women with higher levels of estradiol preferred men who had higher levels of testosterone than women who had lower levels of estradiol. During ovulation, women were more like to find high testosterone men more attractive than other parts of the menstrual cycle. In addition to ratings of men, several other psychological tests were administered and examined for changes as a function of state and trait levels of hormones.

A phenomenal thing is occurring in Indonesia’s young democracy. Politicians who are actually interested in propagating good governance and addressing the needs of their constituents are coming to power across the archipelago in increasing numbers. These fresh faces bring with them a pragmatic style of leadership that balks the trend of poor governance set by their distant, corrupt, and bureaucratic predecessors. Unsurprisingly, they have been lauded as the heroes of the people and the products of a maturing democratic regime. The foreign media, in particular, seem convinced that the people’s power, as expressed through democracy, is the driving force behind the rise of such “new breed” leaders. A closer look at the Central Java gubernatorial elections, however, reveals a more complex picture. Through the use of a critical pluralist framework, this paper aims to shed light on the reality of how power is organized between oligarch and non-oligarch actors in the Indonesian polity. In the process, we also build a systematic framework that can be applied to other cases of “new breed” leaders coming to office, so that in the future, a more comprehensive comparative analyses on the topic can be done.

This study examines the unique cultural practices related to disease prevention and health maintenance within a Holmes County, Ohio Amish community. This research focuses on the many options for healthcare within this community and the decisions behind their use. By engaging with these Amish community members to discuss their methods of managing health, the non-Amish medical professionals who treat Amish patients can learn cultural understandings of health within the community. As we learn that there are useful techniques to health beyond the dominant biomedical model, it is valuable to incorporate more traditional methods into our existing healthcare in to boost compliance and comfort for those seeking medical help.

For the last decades, Sweden has transformed from a state with strong elements of corporatism, to a governance of pluralistic character. This development has opened up to a new form of participation – lobbyism – which since has spread and commercialized. Because of this, a report on the state of Swedish democracy – Demokratiutredningen – was issued to examine the phenomenon of lobbyism as it was feared to challenge the functioning of a representative democracy. The report issued a warning of the negative impact on transparency and political equality a professionalization of lobbying could have. Even some forms of regulation were thought to have a negative impact on the political equality. Since the report was released in 2000, nine bills regarding lobbyism have been presented to the Swedish parliament, but no regulation has yet been implemented. The report identified problems regarding transparency and political equality with both regulated and unregulated lobbying. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the parliamentary bills handle the democratic problems voiced by the report. The bills are analyzed with the ideal types of “transparency” and “political equality”, based on Robert Dahl’s ideal of democracy. The study found that the problem of transparency was of a high priority in the bills, while the problem of political equality was hardly addressed. Three of the bills actually ignored the warning issued by the report, where a regulation in the form of registration was thought to have a negative impact on political equality. The fact that the bills hardly addressed the problem of political equality, and in some cases even worsened it, represents a democratic deficit in the regulation debate. / De senaste decennierna har Sverige förvandlats från en stat med starka inslag av korporativism, till ett styrelseskick med pluralistisk prägel. Utvecklingen har öppnat upp för en ny deltagandeform, lobbyism, som sedan dess brett ut sig och kommersialiserats. Med anledning av detta tillkallade regeringen Demokratiutredningen för att analysera lobbningen då den ansågs utmana den representativa demokratins funktionssätt. Demokratiutredningen varnade för att professionaliseringen av lobbying kunde påverka öppenheten och den politiska jämlikheten negativt. Även vissa regleringar ansågs kunna försämra den politiska jämlikheten. Sedan Demokratiutredningen överlämnade sitt slutbetänkande år 2000 har nio motioner gällande lobbyism lagts fram i Sveriges riksdag utan att resultera i en reglering. Demokratiutredningen identifierade demokratiproblem med både öppenhet och politisk jämlikhet i oreglerad, såväl som reglerad, lobbyism. Uppsatsen studerade hur motionerna i ärendet hanterat de demokratiproblem som utredningen framhävde. Studien genomfördes med idealtyper som analysverktyg. Idealtyperna, ”öppenhet” och ”politisk jämlikhet”, byggdes upp med hjälp av Robert Dahls demokratiideal. Studien fann att problemet med öppenhet uppmärksammades i hög grad av motionerna, medan politisk jämlikhet knappt hanterades alls. Tre av motionerna ignorerade till och med den varning som Demokratiutredningen utfärdade, där en reglering i form av registrering skulle påverka den politiska jämlikheten negativt. Att motionerna inte hanterar problemet med politisk jämlikhet, och i flera fall även förvärrar den, innebär ett påtagligt demokratiskt underskott i regleringsdebatten.

Lolu lucwaningo olumayelana neqhaza elingabanjwa ubuciko namasiko ukukhuthaza ukuzwana nokubekezelelana ngokwamasiko nokuvuselela ubuntu phakathi kwezinhlanga ezahlukene KwaZulu-Natal. Kulolu cwaningo kucutshungulwa izindlela ezingasetshenziswa ukwenza izizwe zamasiko ehlukahlukene zikwazi ukwazana kangcono nokungaholela ekuhloniphaneni kanye nasekuhlalisaneni ngokuzwana. Ngasekuqaleni kwalolu cwaningo, kuye kwahlahlelwa kabanzi amagama abumbe isihloko salolu cwaningo ngenhloso yokuveza ukubaluleka kwalolu cwaningo. Kuye kwavela izincazelo ezahlukene ezichaza isiko, kuvele umongo wesiko njengomthetho wesizwe oyinkolelo yokwakha umphakathi, ukuzazisa nokwehluka kwesizwe kwezinye, ubugugu, ukuziphatha kanye nendlela yokuphilisana ngokwabelana kwabantu nokuhlanganisa impilo yabantu. Kulolu cwaningo kubhekwe iqhaza elibanjwe ngumkhakha wezobuciko namasiko ukuphumelelisa impokophelo yoMnyango Wezemfundo KwaZulu-Natal nokuyilapho kuye kwavela khona ukugqugquzela nokulondoloza amagugu esizwe kanye nokuthuthukisa imisebenzi yezobuciko namasiko njengeminye yemisebenzi esemqoka yalolu phiko. Kuye kwacutshungulwa eminye yemikhosi egujwa yisizwe samaZulu okubalwa phakathi kweminye, uMkhosi woMhlanga; uMkhosi weLembe (inkosi uShaka) kanye noMkhosi woKweshwama. Lapha kuye kwacutshungulwa umsuka kanye nomongo womkhosi ngomkhosi ngenhloso yokuthola ukufana okuqukethwe nokungaholela ekwakheni ukwazana kangcono ngenxa yomongo ofanayo oqukethwe yisiko lesizwe nesizwe. Lokhu kwenzeke ngokubheka neminye yemikhosi egujwa yisizwe samaNdiya okubalwa kuyo umgubho woBuciko Bomlomo; umgubho kaDiwali kanye naleyo egujwa ngokuhlanganyela kwezinhlanga ezahlukene zaKwaZulu-Natal okubalwa kuyo umgubho woKunambitha kanye noWesitimela. Phakathi kolwazi oluqoqiwe Iwalolu cwaningo, kuye kwavela lokhu okulandelayo njengalokho okungabamba iqhaza ukukhuthaza ukuzwana nokubekezelelana ngokwamasiko nokuvuselela ubuntu: ukufundisa ngamasiko; ukusebenzisa ubuciko namasiko ukuvuselela ubuntu; ukuthuthukisa izilimi zomdabu; ukuziqhayisa kwentsha ngesiko; ukukhuthaza ubusikoningi kanye nobuliminingi. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Democracy Now! is an independently syndicated hour long daily audio and video program that is broadcast on 1179 radio, television, and internet stations throughout the world, as well as being freely available on their website under a Creative-Commons License. They are a global news organization based in New York City, with the stated goal of providing “rarely heard” perspectives in their coverage. Democracy Now! was one of the early independent news organizations to provide continuous coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York's Zuccotti park. Their early coverage of the movement is relevant to the extent that it helps to obviate the demographics of the OWS movement as well as highlight the potential for a “radically-democratic agonistic pluralism,” as conceptualized by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Through the dual frames of discourse and intersectionality theories, this qualitiative study examines the coverage of Occupy Wall Street by Democracy Now!, in an attempt to understand the interplay of the movement's demographic heterogeneity and the manner in which its public antagonism is characterized by this independent media outlet. The sociopolitical and historical context provided by Democracy Now! is used to understand where the outlet exists with in the media as well as if this coverage can be part of “radical democratic possibilities.”

This essay has two aims. The first is to provide a better understanding of how youths in urban Mwanza envision a deepening of the democratic system in regard to the deliberative democracy theory by Jürgen Habermas and the agonistic pluralism by Chantal Mouffe. The second aim is to connect the empirical material – the democratic deepening visions of youths in urban Mwanza – to a theoretical discussion, transforming the democratic models into democratization chains. The theoretical contribution in this essay is to apply these theoretical models to an emerging democracy such as Tanzania, and to to transform the agonistic pluralism and deliberative models into democratization chains. The empirical material in this essay has further been gathered through semi-structured interviews with 19 youths in urban Mwanza. The results presented in the first analytical chapter shows that youths in urban Mwanza leans towards a vision of a deliberative model of democracy rather then an agonistic pluralism, but that a social class dimension could be seen as affecting the lean. Particularly less-educated females raised concerns that a deliberative approach would segment an unsatisfying political status quo. The theoretical discussion showed that the implications visions of a deepened democracy from youths in urban Mwanza theoretically could have on the democratization process changes if the theories are seen as models or chains.

This thesis develops an interdisciplinary, theoretical framework for analyzing moments of legal pluralism in banishment cases in Samoa. In the first two chapters, select theoretical forms, discourses and practices from legal anthropology, comparative legal scholarship and law and society studies are critically analyzed. Chapter three examines the role of metaphors in theorizing legal pluralism and legal change in both comparative legal scholarship and law and society scholarship. In chapters four and five, elements that were critically analyzed in chapters one through three are drawn together and recombined to theorize legal pluralism in Samoa. As part of this recombination, I employ two metaphors to guide my analysis. Metaphor one, woven objects, is employed to represent select strands of legality existent in Samoa. Metaphor two, the weaving process, is used to analyze how people create moments of legal pluralism in Samoan banishment cases through the adoption of particular subjectivities, through articulation of legal information, and via relations of power.

Rooted in legal theory and environmental studies, this thesis aims to (re)define the ‘population problem’ and related regulatory resolutions in constructive and clear terms, within a broad concept of 'law’. Green legal theory, wicked problem theory, and legal pluralism viewed from a wide-angle, first-person perspective, are applied together. To control birth rates and consumption demands in Canada/America, state-made laws are not central. We are ruled by rules: Certain law-like non-state rules aim to prod procreation and consumption ever-upward. Materially speaking, Can-American population numbers and consumption/waste form one inseparable factor relevant to global ecological degradation, and ‘legally’ speaking, specific religious doctrine amounts to 'population-UP control' and specific economic dogma 'consumption-UP control'. Together, these material and ‘legal’ factors form a wicked problem called ‘population demands.’ This problem formulation points away from state-made resolutions. Instead, the author recommends deconstructing degrading rules from the bottom-up and, in relation to consumption-UP control, reforming social norms. / Graduate / 0398 / 0768 / 0938

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